


Burning Memory

by devilinthedetails



Series: A Hundred Reflections of the Elements [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Physical and Psychological Abuse, Trauma, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25922020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Zuko shares his memories of being burned by his father with Mai.
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: A Hundred Reflections of the Elements [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881241
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Burning Memory

Adamant Virtue

“The scar on my face is my fault.” Zuko’s lips shaped the syllables of shame and self-blame it was hard for him to leave behind even with his father in prison and himself the Fire Lord. “I was too adamant. Too adamant when I insisted to the guards and my uncle that I should be allowed in the Fire Lord’s war room.” 

“Adamance is a virtue in the Fire Nation,” murmured Mai. 

“Not when it’s arguing with a general that raw recruits shouldn’t be used as fresh meat for a bait.” Zuko shook his head. “Then it’s intolerable disrespect.” 

Abide Disrespect

“My father never could abide disrespect,” Zuko continued, the words scorching his throat and tongue. “That’s why he forced me to fight an agni kai.” 

That was what a part of Zuko still wanted to believe anyway. That his father had burned him for disrespect, not for the softness—the compassion—of advocating for common soldiers and then refusing to fight his own flesh and blood in an agni kai. 

Echoing the words still seared into his memory by his father’s blazing hand, he finished, “That’s why he said suffering would be my teacher. Why he burned and banished me.”

Roamed Far Afield 

When he lost the agni kai, Zuko’s honor went up in choking smoke and flames. The only way to bring his honor rising from the cinders was to complete the task his father had set him. The task that could restore his honor and his position as Crown Prince. The task that could end his banishment. Finding the Avatar that had eluded generations of his determined family would be his only path home, his father decreed. That was why Zuko had roamed far afield in his unrelenting quest to capture the Avatar, always hoping it would lead him home again. 

Aghast at Abuse

“Your father was cruel—the suffering he inflicted on you disproportionate to your offense.” Mai’s fingers tenderly traced the scar surrounding Zuko’s eye. “Everyone in the room that day was aghast at the abuse he hurled at you that day. That’s why except for your Uncle Iroh, we were all too stunned—too horrified— to look away.” 

“Azula wasn’t horrified.” Zuko remembered the elation in his sister’s expression before his father’s flaming palm struck. “She was delighted to see me suffer.” 

“Azula always loved to see people suffer.” Mai’s gentle touch contrasted the roughness of her remark. “It’s nothing personal.”

Advised Aforetime

“The worst thing about that moment was that it could have been avoided if I’d only listened to my uncle’s advice.” Zuko closed his eyes, still feeling trapped in his memory. “Before he took me into the Fire Lord’s war room with him, he advised me aforetime to not speak because the proud old generals would be easily offended. I didn’t heed his guidance, I made an argument out of turn in the war room, and I got burned for it.”

“It was a loyal argument.” Mai curled against him. 

“Loyalty burns then.” Zuko tugged her tighter to his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> My first Avatar: The Last Airbender fic. Please be kind!


End file.
